From automotive technology, arrangements are known, which comprise at least one dog clutch as a shifting element for connecting a shaft of a transmission to a component. For example, in the document GB 2 368 102 A an automatic transmission with a device for decoupling the transmission from a drive-train of a vehicle is described. The device is in the form of a dog clutch which is actuated hydraulically by means of an actuating piston arranged inside a shaft. The actuating piston is acted upon by pressure on one side, to move it against the force of a restoring spring. To actuate the shifting claw a shifting finger coupled to the actuating piston is used, which projects through an aperture of the shaft.
Furthermore, another arrangement with a dog clutch as a shifting element is known from the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,330 A. In this known arrangement the dog clutch is used to connect a power take-off shaft to a transmission output shaft of a tractor. For this, an actuating piston inside the output shaft is acted upon hydraulically on one side in opposition to the force of a restoring spring, and the shifting claw is actuated by a bolt which extends through an opening in the output shaft from the actuating piston to the shifting claw. Thus, in the known arrangement the dog clutch is actuated from inside the shaft.
Finally, the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,539 A discloses an axle decoupling device with which, by means of a clutch sleeve, a first part of a drive input shaft can be coupled to a second part of the drive input shaft or decoupled therefrom. The clutch sleeve is mounted in a rotationally fixed manner on one of the two drive input shaft parts and, for the coupling or decoupling, can be displaced axially by a shifting fork. This type of arrangement takes up not inconsiderable structural space.
DE 102005035156A1 describes an interlocking shifting element designed as a dog clutch, which can be actuated hydraulically on one side. The dog clutch is arranged substantially inside a bearing support of the transmission and comprises a shifting claw, which also forms an actuating piston as a combined component. Disadvantageously, the shifting claw rotates together with the sun gear relative to the fixed housing, so that friction takes place between the seal and the housing. Moreover such a system, which is arranged inside a shaft, cannot be fitted into an automatic transmission in a space-neutral manner since it comprises a through-going central shaft.